Love, Eternal

Race Day

Race day. Nola was excited, coming off the back of the first race and Charles' win she was ready and she had faith he was going to do it again. To be fair he could come last and Nola would still be proud. For yesterdays qualifying he had come second which was great. Nola kept an eye on Pierre as well, he had qualified 9th. She hadn't seen him since that late night in the paddock, his words still echoing in her head; when you're ready, I'll be here. What did that even mean? Nola was pulled from her thoughts when there was a knock on the door. She jumped up and answered.
"You ready to go?" Charles was at the door
"Yeah just need my shoes on" Nola said as she let him catch the door as she walked over to her bed and pulled on her trainers and grabbed her bag "How are you feeling about today?" Nola asked him
"Good, p2 is good and hopefully we get a decent result from it!"
"I think you will" Nola said with a smile. She had no doubt in Charles' abilities or talents, he had come far, he had so much further to go.

Outside the hotel was Charles' Ferrari. He opened the door for Nola and she got in, he went round to the drivers side and then drove to the track which wasn't far from the hotel.
Nola scanned her pass on the paddock gates and walked in, she got quite a few waves and hellos from other drivers, it felt like she was becoming one of them, she wouldn't be the one in the car but she would be present every weekend anyway so they were all friendly towards her.
"I've got a briefing, then some media bits, and then drivers parade before the race. You can stay in the trailer or stick with Louisa?" Charles spoke as they got to the Ferrari trailer
"Yeah I don't mind which" Nola said
"Just be in the garage for the race yeah?" He said as put his hand on his sisters shoulder and let her walk in front of him into the trailer.
"Of course, where else would I be?" Nola said, she said her good mornings and hellos to the Ferrari team as she passed them and went upstairs to Charles' driver room.

Later in the day as Nola was laying on Charles' bed, Louisa came in and found her
"Just going to do some media, I'll come and get you when it's time to go to the garage?" Louisa said, Nola nodded at her and she left. These parts where the boring bits to Nola. The actual racing was fine because she could be in the garage watching. But while Charles was in meetings and had media duties, Nola just sat and did nothing. She decided to text her brothers and Freya. She hadn't spoken to them properly in a while. Although she would see them soon enough. They were flying back to go home to Monaco in a couple of days for a few days break before the next race in Australia. Nola couldn't wait to be home for a while, just to see everyone and speak to Freya about Pierre. She wanted to taste her mums home cooked food again as well, she missed it. Not that she wasn't grateful or happy to be here with Charles because she was, but home is home.
Nola scrolled through her Instagram, while waiting for replies from her brothers. They were an hour behind Jeddah time so it wasn't too much of a stretch. Nola's phone rang soon after, Lorenzo!

"My beautiful sister, long time no speak. How's it going?" His French greeted Nola's ears
"It's going good. I love travelling and watching. How is home?"
"It's good here to. We miss you and Charles so much, we can't wait to see you"
"Me neither, can't wait to be home"
"So what are you doing now?" He asked his sister
"Charles is doing some media stuff, when he's done I'll go down to the garage and be there until the end of the race"
"It's sounds great, I can't wait for Monaco race! Soon!"
"I know! It's going to be amazing!"
"When you're home, we'll go out for the day. The whole family. Mum wants to"
"Sounds great to me, oh Enzo I gotta go" Nola saw Louisa enter the room and she knew she had to go and be with a Charles
"No worries, text me when you can. Miss you!"
"Miss you to, bye"

Nola put her phone in her pocket as she stood up and followed her out of the trailer which was now practically empty as everyone was in the pitlane. Nola walked up with Louisa and watched the drivers go on to the big open trailer to greet the fans in the stands. Nola walked into the garage and waited there for Charles to come back.

Charles came out into the garage in his race suit, his trainer following behind closely with his helmet and other things for the race.
"Coming out on track today?" He asked his sister as he went over to he at the back or garage, he leaned on the counter where Nola was.
"Of course!" Nola said excitedly. Saudi Arabia was hot and humid and being in the garage with this many people, was torture, and it was evening it was meant to cooler. So Nola couldn't imagine how the drivers felt sitting in the cars where the engines are right behind them heating them up. Although she must admit she would rather it be warm than raining and cold. That kind of weather was certainly not her forte and never will be, she couldn't stand it, she was a warm weather girl for sure. She was appreciative for just wearing her blue ripped skinny jeans and a black racer bodysuit. No need for extra layers here. Her passes, allowing her to go wherever she wanted, hung round her neck and her sunglasses sat on her head, now useless due to the darkening sky, her hair tied up in a bun on top of her head.
"I'm just going to speak to my engineer and check in" Charles said to Nola as he walked over to the front of the garage. Charles joined a man sitting in front of like 8 screens of data, weather reports, strategies and other things, it was Charles race engineer who fed him information during the race, prepped him before and debriefed after. They worked closely together.

Nola walked out on track once all the cars were in place and the drivers were out of them. She went and stood with Charles and was chatting away to him and to Lando, Alex and George. They were inseparable. If they weren't streaming or messaging in the group chat it's because they were here and talking in person. Nola looked over and saw Pierre doing some reflex training with his trainer, using a tennis ball. He had been doing that forever, Nola watched him, he had his race suit around his waist, his hat on backwards, the skintight race gear showing off the muscles in his shoulders and arms.
"Nola?" Charles was calling his sister after she ignored Lando, he looked in the direction of where she was looking and smirked. Nola snapped her head back towards the attention of the group in front of her.
"Yeah?" She asked
"Lando was talking to you?" Charles said
"Sorry, the cars are noisy. I'm not used to it. What did you say?" Nola asked looking at Lando
"I wondered what team you would support if Charles wasn't with Ferrari?" He asked laughing
"Well whatever team Charles is with then" Nola replied smirking, that was a silly question to ask
"No no no, come on" George said laughing
"It's obviously McLaren" Lando said
"Meh, orange isn't really my colour" Nola said as she laughing, Lando clutched his chest dramatically which made Nola laugh more, they were only upsetting themselves here
"What's your team then?" Alex pressed on, desperate to see what he could get out of Nola, shouldn't they be focusing on getting themselves race ready here.
"Hmm, oh look, time to go" Nola said as she saw mechanics readying the cars, perfect timing. Nola turned to Charles "Be safe, I have faith" She said and gave him a hug, he squeezed his arms around his sister. "Good luck guys" Nola said waving to the rest of the boys before leaving the track with Louisa.
Back in the garage, Nola said her little prayer as she always did before Charles' races, it gave her peace of mind that he will be okay and come home safe.